The AirGun Guild

Title: To all members of the Guild
Post by: Alan on January 25, 2018, 10:46:42 AM

The Airgun Guild was started by Travis Whitney, then part owner of Wicked Air Rifles. It was partially funded by donations from you, the members. In early in January, Travis bowed out to devote full-time to his new venture with Jefferson State Air Rifles. We all wish him well.

As has been reported previously, the official site owner is now yours truly, Alan Applegate. However, I must say that Steve Dampier, a.k.a. Steveoh, is the real brains behind the scenes with respect to keeping the site open, and running smoothly. But Steve’s efforts cannot come without compensation. So here is the story.

First, Steve is in the process of making the site more secure with an SSL certificate. This needed upgrade will increase the hosting fees, and will not be a trifling undertaking. There will be some glitches along the way, and we beg your understanding during the process.

Further, you will soon be seeing site-related (airgun) ads appearing in the banner area. However, other product ads (non-airgun related) will appear based on each individual’s search preferences. In fact, this is how most web sites are funded.

At this juncture, no one really knows how much revenue the ads will generate, but estimates based on current viewership, suggest an annual income of about $200. Whatever funds are generated, will go directly to Steve as part payment for his services. I say in part, because we all owe him for his time taken away from shooting rats, if nothing else! Hopefully, viewership will increase in spite of the ads. This begs the question; What about membership donations?

When I took over the ownership of this site, I paid out just under $220 to cover the hosting fees for one year. With the aforementioned changes, the site hosting fees will increase by about $100 per year. I pledge to you, that any funds generated by donations to this site, will go into escrow to pay the yearly hosting fees, and absolutely not into my pocket! Any overage above the hosting fees, will go directly to Steve for his efforts. I should add at this point, that Steve livelihood (career) is related to software development. Enough said.

Lastly, we recently changed the permissions to allow commenting in the Editorial section. As Steve so eloquently stated, we listened! We will continue to do so to increase the enjoyment of all of our membership, so please keep the comments coming.